English

Noun

A patty is a disc-shaped serving of meat or meat
substitutes. The meat is ground and
then packed and re-shaped to form round discs, cooked (if
applicable) and eaten. They can be eaten a la carte,
as a Salisbury
steak, or in a hamburger, or, by some people,
alone on a plate.

In some countries (including the United
Kingdom) the patty itself is referred to as a burger or (for a
hamburger patty), a beefburger (see below).

Burger patties

Patties made of ground or minced beef or ground chuck
are generally used in hamburgers. When other meats
such as venison,
bison, pork, chicken, turkey,
or fish are used, the name
of the burger generally changes accordingly, prefixed by the name
of the meat source. For example, a turkey burger uses a patty of
ground turkey
meat, and buffalo burgers are made with bison
patties. A Jersey burger consists of hamburger and fish (filet or
burger) in one bun. Veggie burgers (alternately called a tofu
burger. vegiburger or garden burger) use a meat substitute (for
example, tofu, TVP,
seitan
(wheat gluten), or an assortment of vegetables, nuts or soy
protein, which are ground up and mashed into patties) for the
vegetarian and
vegan consumer. Burgers
with non-beef patties are often marketed as more exotic than
hamburgers or as being healthier than beef-patties.

United Kingdom

In the United
Kingdom the word burger is used in lieu of patty, the latter
being more common in the USA.
A burger may be served on a plate to be eaten without bread, using
a knife and fork, often accompanied by chips
however it is most commonly eaten in a bun. A burger of this type
need not be made of minced beef; frozen turkey and chicken burgers (which are
sometimes coated in breadcrumbs) are popular foods for eating in
this style amongst children and students. It is worth noting
that a 'burger sandwich' is almost never referred to in the UK,
instead burger is the term used both for the meat itself as well as
the whole sandwich.

In the UK, the term "patty"
refers to a small pie or pasty. In North
East England "patty"
refers to fish mixed with mashed potato and deep fried in batter,
alternatives such as cheese patty or meat patty are often served in
chip shops by substituting the fish with other items.

Shape

In addition to the disc-like shape that is typical of
burgers, or patties, there can be other shapes to the ground meat
as well. The fast food restaurant Wendy's serves square
burgers.

In boxed burgers, it is not uncommon to find
burgers with seemingly abnormal shapes, with a bumpy perimeter.
These groove-like bumps are caused by the machine that forms the
patties. They are used in production to keep the burgers in line,
so they won't fall off the assembly line, and can be manipulated by
the various machines. In other boxed burgers small punctures can be
seen in the top and bottom flat sides of the burger. These
punctures are there for similar reasons.